Alvin Lai

• Waiting for Great Idea
  • Excuse for not doing anything - dangerous!
  • Waste time
• Success
  • Never comes from mind-blowing idea
  • Comes from a basic idea executed amazingly well
  • Rarely found by thinking
  • Are found by doing
• A great idea is a myth
• Now what?
  • Do better than most people
  • Stop searching and start doing
  • Identify a broad, high-level goal - an industry, lifestyle or financial outcome
  • Identify things you like and dislike - be brutally honest
  • Identify opportunities that open up more doors in the right area
  • Avoid jobs/projects/opportunities that lead to dead ends
  • Take multiple steps to reach a goal
  • Eliminating choices
    • Internships are like free trials at a company
    • Chalk up now-I-know-I-don't-like-that category
  • Start doing
    • Finding the right people to talk to
    • Finding out what people actually need
    • May be lacking in style, but doesn't matter
  • Remember
    • The Myth of a great idea is a great way to think yourself into oblivion and failure
  • At our age
    • Nothing wrong with not knowing what we want to ultimately end up doing
    • Stop feeling guilty
    • But there's something ENTIRELY wrong with not actively trying to find out exactly what we want.
    • Trying, not waiting.
    • Experimenting, not "thinking about it"
    • Give it a shot.

Abstracted from IWillTeachYouToBeRich